Tool for locking caps or seals in cans.



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Patented June as, 1904.

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HARRY A. .rnUEs D 'Ln, OF CONNEAUT, OHIO, ASSIGNOR To CONNEAUT (JANCOMPANY, OF CONNEAUT, OHIO, A CORPORATION or OHIO.

TOOL FOR LOOKING CAPS on SEALS IN CANS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent'No. 763,937, dated June 28,1904.

Application filed August 8, 1903. Serial No. 168,097. (No model.)

To all whmn it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY A. TRUESDALE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Conneaut, in the county of Ashtabula and Stateof Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Tools for Locking Capsor Seals in Cans; and Ido hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

The object of this invention is to provide a tool of the plier form orkind for looking a cap or seal in and to the screw-neck or tubular inletof a can or other receptacle, such cap being adapted to fit within themouth of the said inlet and having an external.downwardly-extendingannular flange which overlaps the rim thereof, and the said pliers beingadapted to pinch or crimp the said flange on the said neck under thesaid rim at one or more places, so as to prevent the accidentaldislodgment of the said cap.

- This device is to be distinguished from appliances of somewhat similarform already known, which are intended and adapted toseal a cap on acan-neck in the sense of making it fluid-tight and which effect theresult by rolling the external flange of the cap around and under thebead or rim at the edge of the can.

My cap or seal is fluid-tight in the neck before the application of thetool, and the latter is used, not to prevent leakage or the ingress ofexternal fluid, but simply to lock the cap in its place by pinching theflange of the cap at one or more points.

To this end my invention consists principally in a tool of the plierkind, comprising two members pivoted together, said members beingprovided on their Operative ends, respectively, with a disk adapted tofit into the depression in the .top of the cap within the neck and anon-rotary jaw adapted to pinch or crimp the external downward flange ofthe cap against the can-neck and under the bead or outwardly-turned edgethereof at any point or points desired for locking the said cap to thesaid neck, substantially as hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a perspective view ofa tool embodying my invention. Fig. 2 represents a side elevation of thesaid tool in the act of looking a cap, the cap and can-neck being A atits lower or operative end, the periphery of the said disk being tapereddownward to fit the tapered wall (Z of a cap or seal D after the latterhas been fitted within the correspondingly-flared wall 0 at the upperend of the screw-neck or inlet E of a can or other receptacle. (Notshown.) The other member B of the tool is pivoted to the member A on astud or pintle C, has its upper end B curved with the convexity outwardfor the convenience of grasping, and is provided at its lower end withan inwardly-bent aw or die B, above wh1ch 1s formed a groove or recess 6to leave room for the upper parts of the cap, the disk,

and the can-neck.

The cap and neck herein shown for purposes of illustration are notclaimed in this application. The said neck is provided externally at itsrim with a hollow wire 0' or turned-down edge, and the said cap isprovided with a downward external flange (.Z overlapping the said hollowwire or turned rim of the neck and extending below the same. The cap Dis then applied by hand to the neck E, its depressed body entering andclosing the said neck, with its flange (Z outside of and in contact withthe turned rim or bead a, while the inclined side walls (Z and a wedgeclosely together. Owing to the perfect fit of the parts D and E and theconstruction of the 1 same above described, the can is now sealed, bythe mere insertion of said cap, against the leakage or inflow of outsidefluid, being liquidtight, airtight, and gas-tight. There remains,however, the risk that the cap may be dislodged accidentally. A positivemechanical lock between the cap and the neck preventing this becomes,therefore, important. The function of the said tool is to providereliable means for locking these two parts together in the mostefficient and expeditious way.

The operation is as follows: The disk A is placed in the hollow top ofthe cap, and so held by the pressure of the operators palm on knob orshield A, the tapered periphery (a of the said disk being in contactwith the correspondingly -formed wall (Z of the said cap and forming asolid backing or filling for it and for the contiguous wall 6 of thesaid neck at every point. The operators hand then closes on the curvedupper end or handle end B of the member B, bringing its jaw or die Bagainst the flange (Z and pinching or crimping said flange against theneck E under the bead or turned-clown rim 6, thereby making animpression (Z like that shown in full view in Fig. 3. One suchimpression will lock the cap reliably in many cases; but for betterassurance 1 generally prefer to make at least a second impression, asshown in section in Fig. 3, and three or four such impressions are oftenpreferred. There is no risk of deforming the body of cap or the neck bythese pinchings or loosening their fit, so as to cause leakage, for thedisk prevents this. The jaw B has a direct radial die action and noother, being non-rotary and not in contact with the flange of the capexcept during the pinching action. When another impression is to be madeat another point, the said jaw or die B is freed from the cap by movingoutward the upper end B of the member B and the tool is then turneduntil the jaw or die B is at the point desired for the next impression.During this turning movement the die does not touch the flange d, whichremains in its normal condition, unrolled, uncrimped, and uncompressedexcept at the points where locking impressions (Z have been made. Theoperation of this tool is therefore quite different from that of certaintools which use rollers to turn the flange of the cap continuously underthe hollow wire or turned rim of the neck of the can for the purpose ofsealing against leakage. Neither kind of device can take the place ofthe other and do its work, and neither is intended to do so.

Of course each impression (Z may be broader or narrower than that shownin full front in Fig. 2 and the form may otherwise vary, de pending onthe face of the die, which is susceptible of many changes, withoutaffecting the operation of the tool or cap or going beyond the scope ofmy invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. A tool for locking caps in the necks of cans, consisting of twomembers pivoted together and provided respectively with a disk or blockwhich is adapted to fit the interior of the top of the cap, and a jaw ordie, having simply a die action on the overlapping flange of the cap, toproduce locking impressions at intervals substantially as set forth.

2. A tool for locking caps in the necks of cans, consisting of twomembers pivoted together and provided respectively on their operativeends with a disk or block and a nonrotary die having simply a die actionon the overlapping flange of the cap, to produce locking impressions atintervals, the two members cooperating substantially as set forth.

3. In combination with member A, provided at one end with knob A and atthe other with disk A the member B provided at one end with curvedhandle end B and at the other with jaw B, said jaw being non-rotary andhaving a die action only in cooperation with disk A to make lockingimpressions at intervals in the flange of a cap for a can-neck withoutotherwise deforming the cap or neck or loosening them to cause leakagesubstantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

HARRY A. TRUESDALE.

Witnesses:

W. P. SANFORD, JAMES R. STOFFER.

